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FatSubmitted by lana on Fri, 02/01/2008 - 7:54pm.
I've been thinking about weight, body image and self-esteem lately. My little girl is not even four yet, so it's not a huge issue right now, but I want to encourage her to eat healthily and not overeat but also of course teach her to be self-confident and to love herself and her body. My boss, who is very health conscious (and a bit of a fat-nazi) was talking yesterday about the childhood obesity epidemic. She was saying that obesity in children in China (where she recently visited) is becoming an issue due to the influence of our culture. She said that schools are taking it so seriously that the overweight kids sit at a separate lunch table, eat different foods, and are required to stay after school to exercise. While I was slightly horrified by this, she thinks it's just peachy. I'm all for teaching children healthy habits and fighting childhood obesity, but is that really an appropriate way to do it? I can't even imagine how humiliating that would be, and what it could do to a child's self-esteem and body image. So I guess I'm wondering what is worse for a child (and for an adult for that matter), being overweight (I'm not talking obese, just a few extra pounds) or having a low self image? My husband and I both had chubby pre-teen phases, so I suspect that our daughter might too. I feel like I'd rather her be chubby and happy with herself than thin and constantly worried about it (or more likely chubby but constantly worried about it). I think about these things sometimes though when I see how much she loves all things sweet and salty, (ice cream, candy, french fries, potato chips) which we eat infrequently, but still... Oh, my boss also told me yesterday that I should lose weight, but that's a whole other issue. don't ya think? I too had a chubby teen stage...that spilled over into my early twenties but I was always really althletic so I really never thought of myself as fat. Your boss sounds like a weirdo-fat-o-phobic. My lady at my son's daycare once sat me down and said that she thought my guy (just 3 yesterday) was fat and focused too much on food. For about two weeks I sort of stressed about it. I started keeping track of what he was eating and making sure that we got outside everyday to run around. After a bit, I realized I was just doing what I always do--only writing it down. We eay healthily at our house and sugary things are treat not common. We are also really active. He just has a different body type than all of the other (Mexican) children who go to his daycare. Walking around an imnsho, at least - both the practice of segregating fat kids and your boss' thinking it peachy. for myself and as a parent, i think the positive self-concept is far and away more important than any set of numbers. i was a very scrawny kid isolated from media culture and growing up in a family full of large humans, so i think i had the relatively unique experience of benefitting from thin-privilege as a kid and seeing fat positively in my formative years. both of dd's parents are thick adults who were scrawny kids, so i expect that's likely for her as well. i hope to help her relate positively both to being a scrawny kid {which i loathed} and being a thick adult. in my experience and observation, healthy eating and exercise habits are not mutually exclusive with being fat or automatically connected with thinness. positive self-concept, however, more often is connected with healthy eating and exercise habits than it is with size, at least so long as we're defining healthy eating and exercise as well balanced, moderated, and relished instead of strictly regimented and harshly enforced. in truth, i have seen far more self-hatred/negative body image/self-flagellation going on with "thin" people than i have with fat people in general, and i have more often seen that general personality/body type combo cross the line from healthy habits to obsessive behavior than any other.
"if i pass for other than what i am, do you feel safer?" ~ lani ka'ahumanu dragon knows dragon |
I hate people like your boss.